Pennsylvanians are still feeling the sticker shock of rising prices even though President Donald Trump ignored affordability concerns during his State of the Union address.
While addressing the nation at the State of the Union address last week, President Donald Trump downplayed affordability concerns and stated that inflation is at the lowest levels in more than five years.
“Our spirit is restored, inflation is plummeting, incomes are rising fast, the roaring economy is roaring like never before,” Trump said.
Problem solved, right?
Well, not so fast because many Pennsylvanians are still struggling with rising grocery prices, increased health care costs, and surging utility bills since Trump returned to office last January.
“ In the State of the Union, President Trump painted a picture of falling prices, rising prosperity, and an economy stronger than ever. But for many Pennsylvanians and families across the commonwealth, that is simply not the reality they are experiencing,” Felicity Williams, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Policy Center, said during a press conference on Tuesday.
“ What the data shows is a persistent affordability squeeze affecting households across the commonwealth even though inflation has slowed from its peak, prices remain significantly higher than they were just a few years ago.”
According to a Pennsylvania Policy Center report, inflation continued to rise by 2.7% between Dec. 2024 and Dec. 2025 even though Trump claimed that inflation has fallen to 1.7% over the past three months.
Last year, food prices rose by 3.1%, and average gas prices throughout the commonwealth continue to hover around $3.12 with prices at the highest in northwestern Pennsylvania.
Utility bills over the past year rose by an average of 15%, while PJM, an interconnection transmission agency, raised their capacity auction by 800%, which secures power supply to service 65 million customers on their electrical grid.
Trump claimed that his administration has rapidly reduced high prices, but for Pennsylvania families paying their utility bills, that is not true.
“He promised to cut energy costs in half in his first year, and instead, utility bills in Pennsylvania have spiked by 15% in just over a year since he took office, and this is a Trump inflicted energy crisis,” Kaite Blume, Political and Legislative Director with the Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania, said. “It’s driven by reckless policy choices that have taken cheaper energy off the grid, destroyed jobs, and left Pennsylvania’s families holding the bag.”
Blume noted that 15 utility companies raised rates, or are in the process of getting their rate hikes approved, which will cost Pennsylvania residents an additional $3.3 billion.
In order to take on the affordability crisis and lower costs for Pennsylvania residents, State Sen. Lindsey Williams (D-Allegheny) is calling on the state legislature to enact a packet of legislation that targets billionaires and social media companies.
”There’s a group of ultra rich people in this country who aren’t experiencing the same economic downturn as the rest of us. In a lot of ways, we are subsidizing them,” Williams said.
“ They’re making money off of the data they harvest from us and from the clicks on the ads that they put on our social media feeds, and they don’t pay any tax on any of that revenue that they gain. They’re exploiting tax loopholes and avoiding tax liability whenever possible because our laws allow them to do that.”
